Thursday morning found Aja to be in a fairly crappy mood. Last night argument with her sister and that jackarse she called a boyfriend had proven to be a burr in her saddle. As she pounded nails into the house she went to help her crew build, she muttered to herself.

“Oh yeah, cause yer oh so frickin grown up...waaaah ...he left me...“  Aja mocked her sister. “What da hell is dat crap" Whut' Are ya twelve"”  wham! Another nail went in, with Aja unaware how far away the crew was moving from her. “Oh yes...let’s be more worried about what Prissy Pants thinks dan yer damn blood!” Wham. Another nail went in.  “Nevermind dat ya don’t have yer own damn kids...ya haven’t a frickin clue what it means ta be a damn parent and yer gonna tell ME whut I should do about Hochi" Are ya out of yer frickin mind"”  Wham!

Rico and Tristan had gotten a call from a frightened foreman and had come to observe the commotion for themselves.

“Did you do something"”  Tristan asked watching the violence against the nails.

“Nope. Did you?”  Rico asked back equally focused on Aja at the moment.

“Nope.” Tristan cocked his head slightly and then shook it.

“Ajia.”  They said in stereo as they realized who had been in town last night and added it up to the current mood.

“Best order da guys to just stay out of her way the rest of the day. It will be safer.”  Rico watched as Aja pounded more nails in this time with very loudly said swear words in Drow. “MUCH safer.” he amended.

“Oh, and let’s get all pissy when I point out to ya dat wearin a skirt on a job site is impractical. But Owen says it and all of a sudden, it’s Oh yer right. “ Aja adopted a falsetto on that last part. “Dumb arse never worked a day in his life, but hey...let’s listen ta him over someone who has built up a fricken town from practically nothing! Built not one, but two huge arse resorts and all while raisin’ three kids!” WHAM. That one cracked the board. “Damn it!”

Now she was pulling the cracked board off while she ranted away.

“Yes, cause layin on da damn Outback floor cause a man walked out is frickin smart. Way ta be a leader there. I lost Padriq three damn times, ya never saw me hit da floor.”  she yanked the nails out. “No sir...I’m not a jelly fish. I have things to do, businesses ta run and a town ta oversee. Ya think I got time ta fall apart over every little thing" Hellz no. I got things ta frickin do.” yank, the board splintered and came off. She threw it to the ground behind her and grabbed another. “Ignore the frickin fact I never told ya whut ta frickin do with yer precious little project...Ignore da fact da Hochi is MY son...and ya never raised a kid or have been responsible a day in yer frickin life fer someone else’s life....oh yeah...yer real damn mature.”


Tristan and Rico stood with the foreman and watched for a bit. Tristan listening to the bits he could hear over the pounding.

“How long do you think she’s gonna rant"” Rico asked knowing Tristan could hear her.

“A while.” Tristan said matter of factly. “It has something to do with Hochi.”

“Oh crap. Not the kids.” Rico now had the expression of someone who was just handed a death sentence.

“Yep. Someone brought the kids into it and you know what she does about that.”

“I’ll get the hard hats.” Rico would’ve grinned, but over the years, he’d been witness to a couple of events involving Aja and her kids. He knew how most of those ended to.

“I didn’t ask you to tell me how ta do my job, Aja.”  again that falsetto mocking tone of her sister. “I didn’t tell ya how ta do yer damn job, ya deaf cow.” Aja spat as she hammered another nail into the wood. “And let’s jist talk about yer job. Yeah. Cause being over in another country and doing stuff there is totally yer job. Whut about yer family’s own kingdom' Oh. well. Let’s not bother with any of that. Cause...hey. Why would family be at all important ta ya. Oh. Wait...I get it. It’s cause we’re not yer snookie wookie bear, are we" Nah. We’re only blood. Dat’s not important, is it"” Wham, wham wham. Another nail went in and Aja moved along. “Show Owen the same respect I show Padriq....I will when he shows me any damn respect, ya whimpering I need a man to be whole weak ass wimp!” wham!

Aja stepped back and looked over the board. When angry, she managed to get a lot done. She picked up another board and went back to ranting as it went up.

“Until you started putting your damn foot down about what Hochi did or didn’t do, I was on the same damn page with you. Well...excuse the hell out of me fer being Hochi’s mother and taking responsibility fer tryin ta make sure he didn’t blow his chances with Miranda ta hell....“ wham wham wham. Another nail went in. “But nooo...that’s not whut yer hearin...is it' Cause it’s allll about you!” wham wham wham. “Then you decide that he shouldn’t work at all with ya and ya think I should tell him' Way to buck up on takin a leadership role there, sis.”

Aja bent down and picked up another board, pausing to see if she was calm yet. Nope. And she commenced putting up another board.

“And let’s jist review this again. Hochi is my son. I am his mother. I say what is best fer him. Not you. You who does not have a single child of her own. Who acts like a child herself. Yeah...yer who I want in charge of raising my kids. I think not.” wham wham wham went in another nail. “And yer not going to agree to it' Why is this exactly' Oh...I don’t know...cause you think Hochi is code fer ya somehow...don’t ya" Yer lucky yer mah damn sister or I’d have shot ya by now.” WHAM! “He does not need yer frickin life advice. Yer da last person ..wait...second ta da last person I want tell mah son anythin about life.”

Aja put the hammer down and paced back and forth for a bit. Hammering nails was slowly working but the replay in her head of the conversation about Hochi, just made her want to kill them both all over again. She sighed and took a deep breath, then stepped forward to pick up the hammer again.

“At least I got ta punch dat smart arse, arrogant jackarse. Dat was rather satisfyin’.” she grinned and picked up some more nails. “Tell me whut I can and can’t do about mah kids, will ya" I don’t think so ya lazy, spoiled, good fer nuffin piece of dragon poo.”  Aja went back to hammering up another piece of lumber to the house. Not noticing that she was all alone on that side. “And another thing, ya run off when it gets too tough. Leaders can’t do dat. Not good ones...not ones dat get respected in anyway...nope. Jist a wimp arse girl at dat point.” 

The night replayed in her head another bit caught her attention.  Owen telling Rachael to butt out. Oh that was rich, coming from someone who had spent the whole night sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.  “Tell mah friend, she’s imposin" Are ya frickin serious ya hypocritical jackhole! She’s got more right ta comment about my life dan ya do!” Wham, wham, wham. Aja stepped back again. “Alright. Alright. Dis ain’t gettin me anywhere. Time to go speak to Ajay. So he knows what the hell is going on.”

Aja cleaned up the area, and headed towards her cart. She stopped seeing the guys standing there. Still a little mad, she narrowed her eyes at them.

“Crap.” again, Tristan and Rico said in stereo.

“Jist whut da hell are ya two doin here and not gettin yer own work done"” she asked as she got closer. They both took an unconscious step back. “Well"”

“You were scaring people, Rabbit.”

“Don’t ya get all cutsey nickname with me right now, Larson. I will put yer head on a pike.” Aja walked past them both and got into her cart. “Someone’s head is gonna wind up on a pike today, I swear ta Zeus.”  then with that she took off back to the yards. She knew she had to go get cleaned up before she went to Ajay’s.


—————————————————————————————————————————————

Aja stepped through the portal, William was there to greet her like always. Not that Aja was in a friendly state of mind, which William picked up on immediately.

“Aja.”

“Willie.” she returned as he fell into step with her.

“Coming to see your brother"”

“No. Comin ta play hopscotch, Willie.” she snapped as she walked steadily towards the castle. Willie decided that it was time to stop asking her questions. He’s seen Aja upset before, this was something different.

When they parted ways at the gate, the other guards looked at him curiously.

“Just leave Princess Aja alone today, if you know what is good for you.”

For her part, she had no idea that people were rapidly moving off to the side when they saw her come into the palace. A maid practically climbed the curtain when Aja got close enough.

“AJAY!” Aja bellowed and looked around. “I ain’t in da mood ta play hide and go seek right now!”  Aja flung the door open to Ajay’s office, which made the occupants inside jump. She looked around at the advisors and gave them a glare. “Go. Now.” she pointed to the hallway as she stepped inside the room. The men made a hasty exit and Aja slammed the door after them.

“Aja.” Ajay started smoothly. “Come in.”

“Don’t get cute. Not in da mood fer cute. I want ta kill dat prissy arse piece of garbage that Ajia calls a boyfriend and I’d like ta shoot her.” Aja stared at Ajay and then took to pacing. “Yer gonna talk me out of at least one of those things.”

“Oh dear gods. What happened now"”  Ajay knew well enough this was not another typical sibling argument.

“She came...all excited about her project. And I was all fine with it..” Aja’s hands moved while she talked, it was then that Ajay realized it was even more serious than he had thought, Aja had the presence of mind to leave her guns at home. She only had a sword with her and that was a huge red flag in his book. Aja had rarely ever traveled without her weapons. His eyes watched her pacing back and forth now more concerned than he was before.

“Hell, I even suggested that Hochi work this side of it cause it would be good fer him and he could spend time with ya and Sher. Get ta know more about da family and whut we’re about.” Ajay inhaled deeply now cause it was becoming clear exactly what it was that had set Aja off.

“All I asked...asked, mind ya....was dat she keep Hochi on this side. Not ta let him get all distracted and carried away...and she … “ Aja paused to breathe in deep. “argued with me. About mah kid!” Aja’s voice went up to that pitch that had Ajay cringing. “She’s lucky she’s still frickin breathin Ajay. I mean it.”

“I know. Hochi needs guidance, you have spoken to me of this before.”

“Right. And her...ya think she frickin listens"”  Aja shouted. “Oh hell no...she’s too busy whining about how I treat her like a child!”  Aja grabbed the back of the wingback leather chair and stared at Ajay. “Have I now or ever been unclear about whut I expect from either of ya about mah kids"”

“No. You have been perfectly clear about your children, Aja.”

“That’s whut I thought.” she huffed. “Ajay...I swear ta Zeus. I’m really ready ta kill ‘er this time.”  Aja started pacing. “And she’s supposed ta be comin here for lunch with da two of us...and I need ya ta talk me out of pounding the crap out of her.”

“Aja, I know how protective you are of your children. I admire it. As the only one of us to have children, I can’t imagine what you have done in the name to raise them to the good citizens they have become.” He was saying gently, which seemed to be having a calming effect on Aja as she started to loosen her grip on the chair. “And I would never presume to intervene with whatever it was you felt was needed for them. “

“Thank you.” Aja said and exhaled slowly.

“I would greatly enjoy seeing more of Hochi. He is a joy to have around. He reminds me a great deal of you in your younger days.” Ajay’s smile infected his sister who was now starting to smile a little herself. “Which I suspect is what you are also seeing.”

“It is.”  Aja said and Ajay stepped closer to her, his hand came to rest gently on hers.

“I know you are a good parent, Aja.” He stepped closer to his sister. “So whatever you need from me, you shall have it.” Aja looked up at Ajay, she sighed and leaned her head against him.

“Can’t lose dat kid. Not now.” she said quietly. “I’ve fought too hard fer him. Ta be safe. Loved.”
“You won’t lose him. I promise.” he said quietly and hugged her to him.

Aja closed her eyes and leaned there on her brother while she regained her composure. Ajay had that way about him. She could be ready to murder someone, as she had been when she came in and all she would need to hear was the sound of his voice to bring her back to herself and all the self control she had taught herself over the years.

“I just need you to make sure Hochi stays on the Ballentine side. I want him to work. And work hard...Cause he’s a good man. And good at what he does.” she said quietly pulling back a little. “I just want to make sure he starts to lean focus.”

“And I will do what I can to help you teach that.”

“Thank you, Ajay.” she relaxed then. She looked up into her brothers eyes and saw the calm there. The love he always had for her and then the kids. She knew she could trust that he would do exactly as he said he would.

Then she saw the table with the different papers on it and recalled that everyone had cleared the room when she came in.  She gave Ajay a sheepish smile.

“Uh...sorry.” she pointed to the table. “I interrupted yer meeting.”

“They’ll be fine.” Ajay smiled good naturedly. “They certainly will not be ever trying to make you angry from now on.”

“That much with the scary"”

“Let’s just say, if I saw you coming at me in an alley with that look I’d make sure I had a will in order.” Ajay patted her shoulder and she laughed a little. Her first of the morning.

“I’m gonna go take a little walk. See where my fiancee is off to.” Aja said. “I’ll be back by lunch.”

“I’ll advise your sister not to mention the children today.”

“Thank you, Ajay.” she said and moved to the door. She stopped and looked back at him. “I mean it. Thank you.”

“Anytime, sis.” he gave her a smile and she opened the door, walking out to the corridor aiming to find Padriq working somewhere in Ballentine.